Critical Essay by Martin Esslin

SOURCE: "Chekhov and the Modern Drama," in A Chekhov Companion, edited by Toby W. Clyman, Green-wood Press, 1985, pp. 135-45.

In the essay below, Esslin assesses the impact of Chekhov's revolutionary dramatic technique on the history of Western theater.

Anton Chekhov was one of the major influences in the emergence of a wholly new approach to the subject matter, structure, and technique of dramatic writing at the end of the nineteenth century. It can be argued that he, in fact, occupies a key position at the point of transition between a millennial convention of "traditional" and the emergence of "modern" drama.

What was it that the "modern" drama replaced? What was it that the multifarious types of traditional dramatic fiction, however different they might appear, had fundamentally in common—from Greek tragedy and comedy to the well-made play of the...